|
|
Clubs Donate to Injured Football Player
11/25/09
One minute, freshman running back Beau Dickson was sprinting with the football, the next he was being rushed off the field in an ambulance with a life-threatening kidney injury.
“You wouldn’t even think that tackle would have done that much damage,” remarked Beau’s mother, Kim Dickson. “He’s been hit worse before.”
Beau was playing in a game against Lexington High School on October 12 when he was tackled by the opposing team. One of the players landed in just the right way to tear Beau’s kidney.
Beau said he didn’t realize he was hurt so badly at first.
“I was out of breath. When I couldn’t catch my breath they took me out in an ambulance.” Tests discovered blood in his urine, indicating a problem with his kidney that ultimately required surgery. Beau was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center where his entire body swelled with fluid. He spent a week being nourished through an IV tube.
“The only thing they would let me eat was ice chips,” he said. Beau underwent surgery on Saturday and spent another week in the hospital recovering.
Kim says the experience was humbling.
“We saw so many children at Vanderbilt who had no hair from cancer treatments, or were scarred from being in wrecks,” she said. “Some had been there for months, some will never go home.”
But two weeks to the day after his accident, Beau was sent home. The family attributes his miraculous recovery to the power of prayer.
“I probably wouldn’t have made it without all the prayers,” says Beau.
According to Kim, not only were family and friends praying for Beau, but even his doctors and acquaintances on Facebook were praying. In fact, some players from the Lexington team sent Beau a get well card.
A month after the accident, the entire Riverside High School football club organized a fundraiser on to help Beau’s family pay some of his medical bills. With help from the Elk’s Lodge, Tennessee River Cookers, the Alumni and Quarterback Clubs sold more than $3,500 worth of pork chop plates.
“Beau is part of the football family,” said Alumni Club member Paul Ward. “We were proud to support him and his family.
The Dickson family is grateful for the support.
“We appreciate everything,” said Kim, “all the donations, cards, calls and prayers. People even brought dinners for us. It has been a blessing.”
After a few weeks on homebound, Beau is back at school and trying to get back to some of his old activities. And despite being left with only 85 percent of his kidney, doctors are optimistic that he will eventually be able to play football again. He will have to be careful to protect his abdominals with longer pads and avoid abdominal exercise, at least at first.
Nevertheless, Beau is happy to be recovering well.
“I’m thankful for the prayers and everything everyone has done for me,” he said.
|
Online News, Decatur County Chronicle, Decatur County Tennessee,
Decatur, County, News, Classifieds Regional News, Perry, Wayne, Henderson, Benton, Carroll, TN,
Events, Help Wanted, Print Advertising, Online Advertising, Kenneth Broadway, Independent news
publication, Legal Notices, Parsons, Lexington, Decaturville, Scotts Hill, Reagan, Sardis, Beacon,
Clifton, Waynesbourgh, Linden, Bible Hill, Beacon Junction, Wilkinstown, Mount Tabor, Perryville,
Busseltown, Hopewell, Yellow Springs, Akins Chapel, Cozette, Jeannette, Hydro, Sugar Tree, Utah,
Mount Lebanon, Largo, Gumdale, Dixie Mills, Garrett, Decaturville
|
|
